Porter, Wallace and Santos lead Keelhaulers at Simpson

REDDING, Calif. – Alicia Porter led all Keelhaulers with 15 points and hit two of her five baskets from three, Lexy Wallace connected on 4 of 7 shots from the floor to finish with nine points, in addition to three rebounds, and Aysia Santos ended her evening with nine points and two rebounds in Friday's Cal Pac Conference game in Redding, California.

By ending its night with three players in double figures, Simpson defeated Cal Maritime, 86-55, by protecting a lead built throughout the first two quarters of this league matchup from the James M. Grant Center. 

"Tonight, we wanted to focus on the next-play mentality. We know we can't control what happens, but how we respond, which the team absolutely did," said head coach Imhotet Amen-Ra.

"Turnover-wise, this was a great game for us by finishing wih 16. I also loved our intensity in the second half ... the biggest takes for us is stringing all four quarters together.

Amen-Ra added, "I loved how we kept putting pressure on the rim and got to the line a lot. This game was one of the better free-throw-shooting games which is what we needed."

The Keelhaulers nailed 11 of 14 shots from the stripe.

Combined with eight points each from Marissa Serrano and Anika Carey, CSUM also enjoyed a well-rounded attack from its starting lineup.

But it was just one of those nights where shots just did not fall for the Keelhaulers; the Redhawks only took three more shots as a team by comparison (59-56) but sank 35 of their attempts compared to CSUM's 19.

Now that a block of action that included two games in three days, including a lengthy day-of round-trip drive between Vallejo and Redding, Cal Maritime will experience a brief break before returning to action on Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m., at Jessup.

Women's basketball will head to Rocklin for its final non-conference game of the year at 0-7 overall and 0-4 vs. Cal Pac opponents. Simpson will continue its season at 4-5 and 2-1.